Rashid Gaston tallied 12 points and eight boards for Norfolk State (6-6), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

The Spartans defeated Missouri in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 15 seed a year ago and were able to hang around until the end.

Illinois netted the first seven points of the second stanza and built a 39-29 cushion.

But the resilient Spartans battled back. They responded with the next seven points as Kris Brown nailed a 3-pointer and Gaston made a pair of buckets to cut the deficit to 39-36.

Later, Gaston's layup pulled the visitors within 54-51, but the Illini outscored Norfolk State, 10-3, the rest of the way as Illinois began to hit the offensive glass.

After both teams exchanged turnovers, Richardson's driving layup went down and Pendarvis Williams missed a triple at the other end for the Spartans.

With a little over a minute to play, Illinois took the clock down and Abrams missed a layup, but was able to secure his own rebound. He then missed a pair from the foul line, but Sam McLaurin was able to come down with the board made both his foul shots to make it 58-51 with 51 ticks to play.

The hosts made 6-of-8 from the line down the stretch to secure the win.

"We came in and gave a great effort for about 35 minutes and they took over about the last five minutes," Norfolk State head coach Anthony Evans said.

Norfolk State led, 24-19, with five minutes remaining in the opening half before the Illini countered with an 12-2 run before taking a 32-29 edge into the break.